• Speech, debate closes out a good year

  Filed under News
  Mar 5

  

  Enjoying some down time between rounds, sophomores Katie Hodges and John Thomas discuss rounds. Photo by Melissa Colwell.

  by Zack Jarvis

   

  The speech and debate had a long season, but in the end the team finished on a high note for the year.

  “Our team just got better with each tournament, and I think that the team has real promise for next season,” Melissa Colwell, the vice president of the team, said.

  The Talking Rustlers team had several people place at the National Qualifier tournament. Junior Tim Seery qualified in both his extemporaneous speeches, senior Mauro Whiteman took first alternate in foreign extemporaneous speaking, senior Zack Jarvis took third alternate to the national tournament in Lincoln Douglas debate, and senior Angelo Malisani took fourth alternate to the national tournament in Student Congress.

  The team also did well at the State AA tournament. In Lincoln Douglas debate, Jarvis took sixth place, and Melissa Colwell took ninth. In extemporaneous speaking, Seery took first, and Whiteman earned fourth place. In Impromptu, Seery took third and Whiteman fifth.

  “Many people on the team got very close to being alternates, but luckily they have another season to qualify next year,” Colwell said.

  The team’s season is now over, but many things are still underway with the team. The elections of next year’s officers just took place. Aly Hutchinson is the president of the team, Katie Hodges is the vice president, Nathan Maycroft is the secretary, and Maggie Hodges is the historian.

  “The team is in good hands with such dedicated individuals heading the team for next year. I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Colwell said.

  Maycroft is excited to be on the board and is already looking forward to next season on the team.

  “I really didn’t think I was going to make it, but it was pretty exciting when I found out I was on the board,” Maycroft said.

  Maycroft said the entire team is pretty excited for next season, and he hopes more people will qualify next year.

  “I really hope next year will be even better than this one, because I think our team could do pretty well next year if people do their best,” Maycroft said.

  The team has some final things to wrap up with their team awards ceremony coming up. At this ceremony the coaches hand out student-voted awards such as: Greatest Contribution to the Team and Most Improved.

  Overall, the team had a good season and with such improved people on the team for next year, the team promises to have as good a season if not a better one next year.

   

   

  A look back at speech, debate

  Being on the speech and debate team doesn’t mean you’ll draw the crowds. You will not have the pep band, the cheerleaders, or any of the other festivities one might have at a basketball or football game. However, none of this matters because the speech and debate team members manage to do something at every tournament that many people are afraid of: public speaking.

  I’m the president of the speech and debate team, and never have I been so proud to be a part of that team until this final tournament. I haven’t placed first or second once this year, but I have placed at every tournament this year, a task that many people around the state fail to do. I have been a part of a team that supports each other and tries their best each time they go to competition.

  The three years I have been on this team has been time well spent. I’ve learned to express myself in public, I’ve learned to speak logically and coherently, and I have conquered a fear that many people around the world have.

  I am not a part of the biggest event at CMR. People don’t run out to the bus to wave goodbye at us, and people don’t come to watch me speak. I understand that watching basketball sounds much more entertaining than watching two people debate each other on world issues. I applaud our sports teams saying that what they do is entertaining, and they are excellent at the sport they are pursuing.

  I guess if I want to leave the speech and debate team with any lasting thought it would be a comment a judge gave me at one of my tournaments: “Shooting a good free throw is great. Being able to speak in public is superb.”

   

  Tagged as: debate, end, jarvis, News, speech, speech and debate, Talking Rustlers, team, year, zack, zack jarvis
  
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